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12 Nov 2012

UK Corporate Announcements

Aveva reports an H1 pre-tax profit of £25.8m and sees strong organic revenue growth ahead and remains well placed to meet its full year targets

Taylor Wimpey confirms its full year forecasts and states that the housing market improves incrementally

Interserve announces that trading has been in line with its forecasts

Catlin reports nine month total investment returns of $4.1bn up 11% with US gross premiums up 27% after an accounting change

Wincanton details an H1 underlying operating profit of £24.3m with revenues down 11.9% and details that its group Finance Director is to leave

Cobham announces that it expects its revenue trends to continue for the full year and that it will deliver a good set of results and that it will continue to significantly streamline its operations

Bovis states that it sees a strong increase in its profit margins and it to meet its home completions target for the year

Latchways announces H1 revenues have fallen 9% to £18.8m and a gross margin in H1 of 51.4%

Dignity announces nine month revenues of £169.4m from £155.8m last year and keeps its overall expectations for 2013 remain unchanged

UK Market News

The FT details on how the chancellor is increasingly being lobbied to increase council tax on larger and more expensive homes, and David Cameron is due to address the banking industry at the Lord Mayor’s banquet in London at 21:30

The Times details on how the banks have pressured the CBI enough for the group to state publicly that the UK government should bring in laws to curb the compensation payouts banks are being forced to pay for mis-selling PPI and other financial products

The Telegraph writes that the a new report is to suggest that the SFO is suffering from quality failings in its staff, training and results

Ofcom today announces December 11th as the provisional date set for 4G applications with reserve prices totals of £1.3bn, with services to be launched May-June 2013

Greece continues to battle to raise the funds required to avoid defaulting on a €5bn debt repayment this week

Merkel visits Portugal today, her first visit since its bailout last year

Bloomberg details how Goldman has noted that European companies with the largest exposure to the periphery euro nations have gained the most in recent months, but now could look vulnerable to short sellers

Major Investors in Veuling have indicated that the move from IAG is too low and the current offer of €7/share will need to be increased

Germany sells up to €6bn in 6m bills at 11:30, and France sells up to €7bn in bills at 15:00

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Titanium Metals gained over 42% after hours as Precision Castparts announces it is to buy the group at $16.50/share, after closing at $11.57 , Precision Castparts also gained 5% on the news

Lockheed Martin announces that its COO, and incoming CEO has resigned, due to a relationship with a subordinate, and that the SEC is already investigating how bearish option trading volumes surged just ahead of the official announcement`

US Market News

Following the Presidential election some senators, from both parties, are starting to suggest that there could be a successful resolution to the standoff ahead of the fiscal cliff, and that a ‘framework agreement’ could be reached

Over the weekend President Obama was declared the winner in Florida, adding a further 29 electoral votes to his winning margin

JC Penney has had its ratings cut to B- from B+ at S&P late on Friday, with a stable outlook citing its week results

Apple has now settled its patent disputes against HTC, as it responds to the growing criticisms from consumers over its perceived heavy handed approach, and instead states that it ‘will continue to stay laser focused on product innovation’

Russia has publicly encouraged the US and Iran to start one to one talks over Iran’s nuclear program

Barron’s highlights analysts that see FXCM gaining as much as 30% over the next 18 months as it continues to gain market share

The paper also writes on how Bed Bath & Beyond, FedEx, and Apple are amongst the companies that could see gains in the coming weeks, as they look undervalued compared to the boost they are expected to receive in the key retailing period ahead and finally Barron’s also highlights analysts that see value in Berkshire Hathaway and see the stock gaining around 10% over the year

US Veteran’s Day today, However major markets NYSE, Nymex, Nasdaq remain open

Overnight Market News

Sony and MGM have seen the best open yet for a Bond movie with Skyfall in the US as the marketing strategy of opening movies in international regions first to ‘help build buzz’ ahead of an open in the US pays dividends, and counter to recent years which saw large movies opening in the US first then rolled out globally

Hong Kong and Canada have signed a new treaty to avoid double taxation as they look to increase trade between the two economies

FX Summary

The euro stays down at two year lows ahead of the European Finance Ministers meeting in Brussels today

Australia’s Treasurer states that the US needs to end the political standoff on the budget cuts as it was jeopardizing a fragile recovery in the global economy

Commodity Summary

Iron ore has moved up to three month highs as demand in China stays strong and as Chinese exports continue to pick up

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